TEI: EV Charging Stations Near Grocery Stores See Five Times More Usage

The Transportation Energy Institute (TEI), and Electric Era and Paren, released the 2026 State of Retail-First EV Charging report today—a granular analysis of how specific retail amenity types affect DC fast charging station utilization across the United States.

The report analyzed over 4,000 DC fast charging stations (100 kW+) across networks including Electrify America, EVgo, ChargePoint, IONNA and others, using fourth quarter 2025 session data cross-referenced with utilization data, reliability scores and 17 categories of nearby retail amenities. Where prior research has shown that proximity to stores broadly correlates with charger usage, this analysis ranks amenity types by actual median sessions per day and maps where the largest performance gaps exist relative to today's installed base.

Key findings from the report include:

• Stations near a grocery store average 42 sessions per day—nearly 5 times the dataset median of 9. Only 6.7% of stations in the data TEI analyzed are located near a grocery store.
• Stations with 11 or more nearby amenities see 7 times the utilization of isolated stations. Drivers want options.
• Shopping malls average 35 sessions per day (4 times the baseline) but only 3.7% of stations in the data are near one—the lowest penetration of any top-performing amenity type.

“The data suggests the impact of EV charging extends well beyond the charger itself. The broader retail and economic effects emerging around charging locations are becoming difficult for the market to ignore. In a growing EV market, reliability is no longer a differentiator—it’s the baseline expectation shaping customer trust and long-term utilization,” said John Eichberger, executive director, TEI. “EV drivers are increasingly charging where they already live, shop, work and spend time—a trend that is reshaping how the industry thinks about charging deployment."